The Rising
by Hazelle More
Summary: When she promised she'll come back after the loose threads were tied up, and that they would never part again, she forgot to account the rising threat. What would happen to the demigods when their world is thrown into Chaos? Would there be ever an end to the dangers?
1. Chapter 1

**~ Disclaimer ~ **

**Camp Half-Blood Series and all related characters and places belong to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

**~ The Rising ~**

Chapter One

* * *

5:30. PM.

Leo briefly wondered what PM stood for. Then pushed that thought out again.

He couldn't stop throwing furtive glances at the clock, even though there was still half an hour left until _The_ Time. The Time with Capital T's. He felt as if he had swallowed a bowlful of jumpy beans which were now performing acrobatics in his stomach. He wanted to jump up and down until a rainbow shimmered in the air and Piper would wave frantically and yell "LEO!" He was excited and nervous, perhaps overly so. It wasn't like him to be panicky.

On his defense, he was a newbie for it. You had to excuse the guy for his nervousness.

Even though they had been friends for years, Leo felt something akin to stage fright when he thought of her now. She wasn't just his friend anymore, the events of that fateful night a week ago had made them finally accept something that both had been denying for years. But he didn't know if she was his goldfish - sorry, _girlfriend_ - yet. Neither of them had referred to that night's confessions again, and they hadn't given their new state of relationship a name.

Piper was holding back until she could "tie up the loose threads" as she put it, and Leo was okay with it, even thought it was frustrating. Waiting wasn't something the demigods were very good at - but he knew that she had a point. Their fates had been out of their own control for all their lives that they now had to pacify a lot of people before they could take their own decisions.

Did he think that she regretted the choice? Was that why she left on this journey alone, even after everything they promised?

No. Leo knew his first friend well. She was stubborn, she hated depending on another person. In her mind, this was her own battle, and she had to confront it alone; she wouldn't let anyone else fight in her behalf. Leo had a suspicion that she still felt guilty and blamed herself for the curses; but he didn't know how to correct it. He let her leave alone for this time.

But this would be the last time.

* * *

He walked around the bunker restlessly, but the hands on the clock didn't seem to be moving at all. Leo tried to resist the urge to open it up to see if it was broken. Why was the time so slow? He had run up to the Bunker after barely touching his lunch, afraid that he'd be late, and then hung around alone for four hours. He had a ready excuse, but the real reason was that he wanted to take the Iris message away from his brothers.

To pass the long minutes, he found a Swiss army knife from a tool box and started taking it apart. This was his newest hobby – upgrading regular everyday objects into sinister demigod-friendly weapons. He had been curious about the way how some of the demigods had weapons that could transform into simple dormant forms like a pen or a charm bracelet. He _could _create weapons like that, but now he was experimenting with combining them with godly powers. It wasn't easy as I sounded – the godly powers were not _tame, _they certainly didn't like being compressed into small physical forms. Bangs and explosions in the Forges and Bunker Nine was a now a regular occurrence, with accidents just seconds away.

But that was half the fun of it!

The pen knife was a neat tool on its own, but he wanted to make it…more special and monster-specific. A tiny bottle opener wouldn't have much use against a Cyclops, but if he could make it morph into an ax or a boomerang… _and_ still retain the regular parts of the army knife… _and _double-task as a miniature flamethrower, tapping into his own pyrokinetic powers…

He had a sketchy blueprint in mind, but it was complicated. And dangerous to make any mistakes in, which was why he was doing it alone up at the bunker, away from his siblings at the forge. Still, he did need some technical help from time to time for work outside the Hephaestus' span. He was just thinking of sending a message to the Hecate cabin, which usually performed the complicated spells, when a girl hopped into the Bunker.

Laura, daughter of Hecate, was one of his close friends outside the Hephaestus cabin who usually helped in remodeling regular objects. She had her own spark of creativity and imagination, and her spells were useful, at least when they were not backfiring on the creators. And she made it clear that she was out of his league in the first five minutes of their acquaintance, having already been head over heels about another. Perfect.

"Lou Ellen says that we're fresh out of mice turning into chariot drivers, sorry," she announced, casually snapping her fingers. "But if you want a driver turned into a mouse, no problem."

"That's okay," Leo replied, also casually scooping up the magical flames that had just appeared on his head and blowing it back on her direction. Leo and Laura usually greeted by trying to set each other's head on fire. "I fixed it with some cockroaches. Want to see?"

Someone had been crazy enough to dare that they recreate Cinderella's chariot; a challenge they accepted with a laugh and so far having a rock-and-roll luck with. Fairy Godmother had it easy, but they had to go take the hard way.

"No thanks, I'll pass. I just had lunch. The animal-to-human transformation is harder than turning a human into a mouse. Or guinea pigs, as Percy claimed Circe did to him. And the mist forms…" she shuddered. "I don't think anyone in my cabin are powerful enough for that."

She moved over to look at the army knife (or what used to be one) on the table. "What's the new design? Can I blow up your Bunker again?"

"Err…I'm still thinking about it. But you're not blowing up my bunker. I have this sketchy idea…" he looked at the clock again. "But it'll take a long time to explain."

She looked down at the table, then at the clock, and laughed. "You're too distracted to explain it, you mean. Don't worry, I won't stay long – just came to tell you that Chiron's calling a meeting of cabin counselors and deputies after camp fire tonight. Tell your girlfriend that Lacey agreed to represent."

"Hey, she's not my-"

She laughed. "Spare me the denial, Valdez. You know it."

"Why haven't I locked you up inside a cupboard yet? Oh yeah, because your Blowfish will strangle me with his mighty grape vines?"

"Say another word and he will, I promise. Anyway, don't forget the meeting. Chiron said that some ambassador's coming. He'll shoot anyone who skips the dinner."

"Okay...I don't mean to get shot dead just yet. But did you say _after_ campfire? Why so late?"

She shrugged. "No idea. I don't know who the ambassador either. I gotta run, though. Sword training in fifteen minutes and your bunker is entirely too far away from the arena. Give my regards to Piper, okay?"

"Shall do."

She winked and ran off, leaving him to carry on the army knife. Adam, another son of Hephaestus came in a few minutes to report the progress in the forges, and Leo promised he'll come down in a few minutes. Adam left with a nod, but Leo wished that he didn't have that smug look. Great. He was going to have a talk with Lacey about the gossiping Aphrodite girls. He and Piper weren't even a proper couple yet and the whole camp was already passing rumors?

* * *

He was so engrossed in his work that he didn't hear it when air before him shimmered with a rainbow. The visitor watched him work for full five minutes before interrupting.

"Being busy, Leo?"

"Piper!" he looked up with a grin. "Didn't see you there! How's everything? Where are you today? Did you meet anyone?"

She laughed. It felt so good to hear her easy laughter, it said that she was alright and recovering from the shock of the last week. Perhaps the time alone and away was a good idea, so that she could bury the memories alone and come back to camp with a fresh mind. A new beginning. Yeah, that was a good hope.

"Well, I'm fine. Didn't meet my mother yet, though. She's not in Olympus. I tried to Iris message her, or contact her in a dream like you suggested, but she's not responding. Maybe she's avoiding me." Piper's face fell for a minute. "But she's _got_ to talk to me sometime. I mean, we're not kids anymore, and the fate of the world doesn't rest on our shoulders!"

Leo nodded. "Of course. But who knows, we're never free from it really. We're _demigods._" He made air quotes around the word. "No telling what will happen next. Did you meet anyone else, anyway?"

"Yup. Lady Psyche, my…uhh, immortal sister-in-law? She said that Aphrodite has been avoiding her too, for about three thousand years." The girl shook her head disbelievingly. "Could you imagine that?"

"Nope," Leo stared. "Keep long grudges much? Your mom, I mean?"

"Apparently?"

"Do you want me to come over and help find her? This place is so boring without you. You _need_ to be here. I can't remember where anything is."

She smiled wistfully. "I know…I miss you, too. I'll be back as soon as I can. I promised you, didn't I?"

"Yeah, okay," Leo nodded. "Go on debriefing, ma'am. Where are you, though? Are you…back at home? I thought your dad was filming in Canada...?"

Piper nodded and waved her hand around the room. It was _her_ room at the McLean mansion, even though it looked like she had just moved in. The bed was still covered in a neat quilt, and her backpack lay on it half open. The windows were closed, the cupboards locked, the dressing table empty, and it was eerily quiet except for her voice.

"After meeting Psyche, it felt like I should go back home. It was…just a feeling. Like I _had_ to be here, like there was something here I needed to see or someone I had to meet. I haven't figured it out yet. No one was home when I came here. You know, sometimes she scares me." Piper looked at him with a hint of desperation in her eyes. "Psyche. It's like…she can see right into my head. But then, Psyche is the Goddess of Soul, so I guess that's usual for her."

"That still sounds creepy, Pipes."

"Yeah. And…and she…" Piper blushed. "She wished us good luck."

Leo felt his own ears going red and hot. He smiled sheepishly, not knowing what to say. He made a mental note to thank this lady if he ever met her. That was pretty nice of the goddess, even though he had just been feeling scared of her. If she was Piper's half sister and if she had wished them good luck, she couldn't have been all bad.

"So you don't know when your father will be back?"

"No," she sighed. "I just got here, actually. I'll send him a call tonight. By the way…" she looked down. "I met Jason."

Leo felt like he was suddenly drowning with a weight tied to his legs. "And…?"

"Not in the camp. I kind of ran into him in Medea's department store. He said he was sorry and left before I could say anything else. He seemed to be in an awful hurry to get away…"

"What were _you _doing in Medea's store?"

"I was just passing through. I saw Aphrodite there once, in our first quest – she told me not to say it then because of Zeus' ban."

"Oh, okay." Leo wasn't sure if he could let down the heavy weight in his mind yet: _Jason._ Of course, having officially 'dumped' Piper for a Roman girl he shouldn't be a problem anymore, but Leo couldn't help feeling nervous about him. Jason was, after all, both their first friend in the demigod world. And Leo was probably destroying the guy code, since Piper was Jason's girlfriend, and Jason was his best friend. Sure, their memories were altered, but it didn't change the truth of those facts. It was all so complicated.

"Don't worry, he'll come around," Piper said, but she herself didn't seem to believe the words much.

"What will you do next?" Leo asked, partly to change the topic. Piper considered it for a bit, and shrugged.

"I'm not sure yet. I have to find out why I was sent here. Guess I'll sleep on it and let you know tomorrow."

"Sounds good," he agreed. "Take care, okay?"

"I will, I will," she laughed. There was some sound of knocking a door far behind her in the other end. She turned back confused, and the knocking repeated. Piper muttered something about trespassing fans and looked back again. "See you later, then? Seems like some paparazzi noticed my breaking in…"

"Yeah, sure. Goodbye and goodnight, Pipes. Say hello to Dad from me."

"Sure thing," she smiled. The knocking repeated behind her a third time, sounding more urgent and demanding. "See you tomorrow, Leo."

She waved her hand across the rainbow cutting the connection, just as a loud crash was heard in the background. Leo fervently hoped that the Tristan McLean had a strong door that was paparazzi-proof. Piper would be able to send them packing with a single dose of Charmspeak. She had faced horrors much worse than gossip-hunters.

The door _was_ paparazzi-proof, if it was any relief to the son of Hephaestus. It could hold well against a whole mob of fans, if the need be.

What he didn't know was that the door wasn't built to hold back more sinister forces.

_Much_ more sinister forces.

But he didn't know that. Yet.

* * *

_**A/N:** Hello again! Some of you might have happened to read my three-part oneshot _Rough Draft, _which was demanded a sequel by some readers, including myself *cough* because the seeds of the continued story had already been sowed towards the end. BUT, it was only the beginning of a new twist. This time, it's not only Leo and Piper who would be caught in the turmoil. To quote Leo, "We're demigods. No telling what will happen next." _

_As the story progresses it will be able to stand on it's own, but if you're confused, I would recommend skimming through the 'prequel.' For those in the know, we're a week forward from the night at the glade.  
_

_A fair warning: There Will Be OCs. And one major canon/OC pairing. There will be no Mary Sues.  
_

_Many thanks to S. Layton, dearest friend and partner-in-crime, and the most trusted beta-reader. You Rock! :D  
_

_R&R, hope you enjoy! :)  
_

_Coming next chapter: A messenger and an announcement. And bad news.  
_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N:**__ Time for an update. It took long enough, courtesy of NaNoWriMo and stuff, so let me just get to the point at once. Enjoy! :)_

* * *

**- Chapter Two -**

* * *

The dinner at the pavilion was scrumptious as ever. Leo was sitting at the head of the table as usual. He tried not to think that way, but with the long table full of delicious food and golden braziers lighting the pavilion, it felt like that he was a king. His subjects spoiled the effect by the constant chattering.

But there were some marked differences from his first year. Many faces he used to know were gone. Some were too old for living in a summer camp regularly, and had moved out into the real world to live their lives the best they could. Some had transferred to the Roman camp. Some had left them forever.

The most prominent change was the absence of Chiron at the head table. Of course, he still lived in the camp as the Activities Director; there were countless generations of demigods who still needed him. He was only absent this evening, which struck odd to everyone. Some said that he was ill (not likely), some said that he had heard some bad news and wasn't leaving the Big House (probably, though Leo couldn't imagine how bad a news should be to put _Chiron_ under self-sentenced house arrest), and Hayden, Harley's younger brother, claimed that Mr. D had poisoned the centaur because he lost at pinochle for the fifty-second time in a row that afternoon.

"Shh," Leo quietened the young demigod before he could catch Mr. D's attention. "Hey, don't let him hear you say that. Mr. D might be the god of parties, but he doesn't get jokes very well."

"I wasn't joking!" the ten year-old replied indignantly.

When all the plates had been cleared away and many campers were feeling pleasantly full and sleepy, Dionysus got to his feet. Grover, the Lord of the Wild, who was sitting at his left, moved away as far as possible without bumping into the Oracle. Rachel grinned.

"Well, good evening and all that," he glared at the campers. "You know the drill. Capture the flag on Friday. Go to your campfire. Don't bother me."

Nearly a hundred demigods started talking at once, while a fifty more tried to shut them down. The resulting commotion didn't shut down until Mr. D banged a bronze goblet against another, making a bigger noise than all.

"Be quiet, all!" he put down the goblets. "Next time you break rules like that, you wouldn't be let off so easily. Wish I could put the lot of you in probation for the rest of your lives.

Nobody paid attention to his remarks, but it gradually quieted down to a general silence in the pavilion except for some muttering here and there.

"Did I not make myself clear? Get going to your campfire. Counselors, to the Big House."

Someone raised a hand.

"Yes, Jane?"

"Julie, sir. Where is Chiron? Why didn't he come to the dinner?"

"Because he doesn't want to see your face. Does that satisfy you?"

"No, sir."

"I thought not." He turned to the demigods. "Chiron has visitors, as some of you gossips probably know already, and it's his decision to bring them to the pavilion or not. What happened to the wise old saying 'children should be seen and not heard'? Those were the good days. And no, Harvey, I did not poison him. I most certainly did not lose for the fifty second time. And if none of you impertinent souls are not heading to the amphitheater _right now_, I'm going to turn the whole lot of you into dolphins and throw you to the Long Island Sound."

The third time, the orders worked. The campers stood up and followed the Apollo cabin outside, while the counselors and the officials turned to the Big House.

"Name's Hayden," the young son of Hephaestus was heard grumbling. "Not Harvey."

* * *

The recreation room of the Big House should have been renamed as the War Council Room a long time ago, but it stayed the same over the years. Perhaps it was because the ambiance in the room at times like this was serious enough without turning it official.

However, in the last two or three years, there weren't many instances the room was used for other than its original purpose – recreation. Tonight, however, the atmosphere seemed rather confused. No one knew anything about the meeting's particulars, and Chiron seemed to have gone out of his way, calling a meeting at this time of night and skipping the dinner at the pavilion. It had the word 'worry' written all over it.

The things being as they were, Leo was surprised when the oh-so-serious ambassador was none other than Hazel Levesque. She waved to her old Greek friends with a smile, but it seemed rather strained.

Chiron was sitting at her side at the head of the table, his hooves back in the wheel chair form. Mr. D sat at the other end and summoned a goblet of wine, but Chiron seemed to be in no mood to chastise the god. He grumbled and turned it into a diet coke, probably not amused that Chiron was too busy to even notice his most frequent 'accidental' rule breaking. The others took seats around the table. There should have been two campers from each cabin, but with a number of demigods away from camp, some cabins were under-represented. A few were completely empty.

While they were settling down, Leo took a look around the table. There was two newcomers including Hazel, but he wasn't familiar with the second. The stranger was completely covered from head to toe; he could only see a few curls of silver-blonde hair that had fallen out of the long hooded cloak. The stranger cowered in her chair, hunched forward and rocking nervously. Hazel was dressed in similar fashion, still in the travelling cloak with only the hood pulled back. Rachel and Grover sat among the demigods, but even they seemed confused as their friends.

Everyone finally settled down and waited for the meeting to start, but neither of the directors seemed to be aware. After five minutes of silence, Percy Jackson cleared his throat, sitting between Chiron and Rachel.

"Umm, hello, Hazel. What brings you here? And who's our friend?"

Chiron snapped out of his thoughts at Percy's words. He looked around seeming disoriented, and sighed.

"I'm sorry, children. I was… thinking about something. It seems like we have still more trouble to face."

"What kind of trouble?" Daryl, counselor of the Hebe cabin asked. "I thought that Gaea was the last?"

"So did I. But if what Hazel here says is true…"

"What's Hazel saying?"

He turned to Percy and Leo. "Did you two hear from Annabeth and Piper lately?"

Percy shook his head while Leo nodded. "Just this evening."

Hazel gasped. Her face went white as if she had just seen Death.

"Did you Iris-message her?"

"No, she messaged me. Why? Is there any problem?"

Hazel looked at Chiron, but the centaur quietened her with a look.

The feeling of unrest around the table was building. Leo couldn't understand why Chiron and Hazel were acting so strangely – but it was making him nervous. Percy seemed to feel the same. His girlfriend was away from camp as well, on a field trip to the Mount Olympus in Greece. Annabeth had left only a week before Piper, a fortnight before today.

"Look, Chiron," Percy said. "What's the problem? Is Gaea rising again? Or what? Why did you ask about Annabeth and Piper? Are they in danger?"

"You forgot to introduce us to the visitor, too," Leo completed.

The visitor shivered, and rocked more.

"It's okay, Fleecy," Chiron said, but his voice was too strained to be reassuring. "We'll-"

"-_Fleecy?_" Percy jumped. "What are you doing here? I mean, hello and all, but you work at the ROFL, right?"

Many demigods who had not heard of the Rainbow Organic Food & Lifestyles chain sniggered. Blame it on the Goddess who _had_ to give her business line an absurd name. Dionysus finished his diet coke and handed it to Grover, who did not eat the can.

Fleecy pulled back the hood, and only then did Leo see the visitor. She was pretty in a nerdy way, but at the moment she didn't seem to be in the mood to be beautiful. Her eyes were puffy and dark, and the silver-blonde hair stuck to her sides as if she was caught in a heavy rain.

"She does." Hazel said. "Except that ROFL might be going for a bit of hiatus for a few days. Meet Fleecy, all," she told the others. "She's a _nebula,_ a cloud nymph, and works for Iris."

The nymph broke into tears again at her words. Hazel patted her and gave a tissue.

Leo had enough of suspense. Ever since Chiron asked about Piper his mind kept whirring, making up different possibilities – and none of them were good. They could hear random lines of the sing-along at the amphitheater, sharply reminding him of the other night.

"Nice to meet you, Fleecy," he said. "Would anyone mind telling what's going on from the beginning? Please?"

Chiron looked at Hazel, motioning to go on. She sighed.

"Sorry for the sudden and late visit, guys. But things being as they were, the praetors wanted to get the news to you as soon as possible. The other messaging methods were too… risky." She twitched. Leo noted that she was carefully avoiding eye contact with anyone in particular. "We're not sure about what's happening yet. So far, we only know that it doesn't concern the Titans or Giants… or at least, none that we know of. To be honest, we really don't know who's behind it at all. We could have just picked on a lot of coincidences. That _was_ what some people thought back in camp."

She exchanged a meaningful glance with Chiron. He nodded.

"However, Ella arrived this morning with Fleecy here, saying a lot of random quotes from books and peanut butter advertisements. It was a long time before either of them could say a proper word, but from what we learned between quotes from _Gone with the Wind_ and Kraft Crunchy Peanut Butter, Fleecy haven't heard from Lady Iris in many days."

Leo felt like his brain was plugged into a high voltage outlet. How did Piper manage that Iris message then?

"But…" Percy frowned at Fleecy in confusion. "Where is she? And you manage the Iris messaging now right?"

She did? That was news to Leo.

The cloud nymph sniffled and wiped her face. "I did. But Iris messaging can't work without Ms. Iris' power. I only handled the connections while she ran the Rainbow Organic Food and Lifestyles chain. We had quite a good demand since the end of Giant War, and my lady had to travel more often for publicizing and management. I didn't think of it much at first when there weren't a lot of Iris message requests, since it's quiet on peak hours, but when there were still no messages on the weekend I was alarmed. It was impossible. At least Aphrodite has a message for the teleshopping advertisements. So I tried to send a message to Lady Iris- "

"Wait," Leo said. "You Iris-messaged Iris?"

She scowled at him. "We have our own intercom. Hermes isn't the only one with technology. Anyway, I messaged her, but kept getting the intercept message. That's impossible. Iris _can't_ disconnect or go out of service."

"But I talked to Piper every day," Leo replied, knowing that he just confirmed all the rumors going around the camp. He couldn't care less. If anything had happened to Piper…

"I didn't connect any messages to you from Piper McLean," Fleecy looked at him with a strange expression. "Nor detected any Iris messages for all of the last week."

"But you must have missed it! Piper _did_ call, she called _me_. I know an Iris message when I see one!"

Fleecy's expression turned dark. Her face literally turned black, and lightening flashed in her eyes. "Are you telling me that I would mistake my own mistress' distress, son of Fire?"

The demigods shifted on their seats uneasily. The room was brightly lit and warm, but suddenly it darkened. The temperature dropped by ten degrees. Even Leo felt goose bumps rising on his exposed arms. But he didn't say anything. He didn't even drop his eyes off the nymph.

He wasn't accepting defeat. Those messages – they _did_ come from Piper, he was sure of it. Okay, fine, maybe Iris wasn't reporting to duty, but she got to be somewhere that she still could take messages, right? She probably just forgot to say hello to Fleecy. Leo couldn't imagine anyone with a shopping line named ROFL having enough presence of mind to sign in everyday, even if she was a goddess. He could imagine a dozen reasons as to why Fleecy could be mistaken.

He refused to think the alternative.

But the _nebula_ didn't back down either. She stared right into his eyes, lightening flashing in her eyes. Leo could imagine a whole storm inside her. Except… she was _sad_. It was her sadness, her anxiety that was fueling the storm, not anger. She _did_ want to think that she was mistaken and Iris was safe, but she knew that her senses weren't lying. Leo suddenly understood her feelings, simply because his own thoughts were mirroring them.

The hairs suddenly stood on his arms, like they did just before lightening crashed nearby. Thanks to Jason, Leo knew precisely what that felt like.

"No lightning, please," Dionysus said suddenly, breaking the tension. "If you want to strangle Long Vincent that's fine, but I don't want my diet coke electrocuted."

"Lord Dionysus," Chiron said in a reproving voice. "But you're right. Fleecy, please calm down. Leo, I'm sure that Fleecy didn't make any mistake, but if you managed to contact Piper-"

"-She contacted me," Leo corrected.

"If she managed to contact you, this seems… suspicious. Why would Iris go out of reach?"

He looked at the Iris cabin counselor, but Butch shook his head. Despite his strong build and menacing stance, he looked every bit as confused and worried as Chiron and Fleecy.

"Chiron, if I may?"

Hazel looked at the centaur with her hand half raised. He nodded at her to go on.

"I'm sorry," she nodded at Leo. He wondered why she looked so white and so… still. She was troubled, and seemed to pick her words carefully. "The praetors wanted to send a messenger instead of using any of the communication methods for another reason too. It seemed to be only a coincidence at first, but when Fleecy came…"

"What is it?"

She rummaged in her travelling cloak for a while, and then pulled out a rolled parchment which she handed to Chiron. "These names sound familiar?"

Percy looked over at the list, and Leo tried his best to read them in upside-down and slanted perspective. His dyslexia didn't like it.

Chiron nodded. "I know some of them."

"Over the last few weeks, these people went missing."

Everyone turned to look at her. She shifted uneasily at the attention. "We didn't take note at first. People die and go missing all the time for all sorts of reasons, natural or otherwise, and though we do have a registry of the demigods and legacies living outside the camp borders, it could be outdated by a few weeks or months. The world is huge, isn't it? But in the last few days, it turned rather suspicious that among the number of people reported missing, many of them seemed familiar. We had a few meetings, but we couldn't come to a decision until today. When Fleecy said that Iris was missing, Reyna had a hunch and made us list all the people - demigods, legacies, mortals, everyone – that had gone missing over the last three months and got Fleecy to see if she could identify any of them, and sure enough, she recognized quite a disturbing lot of them." She pointed to the list, where Leo saw red asterisks next to some of the names.

"So you're saying…"

"We don't know for sure. But the camp cancelled all communication methods until we could ascertain their safety."

"Even my devices?" Leo scowled. "My devices are safe! They come with lifetime monster-repelling guarantee."

She winced and looked at him wanly. "But all those people Fleecy identified? The last time they sent an Iris message was also the day they were last seen."

* * *

_**A/N:**__ First, I'm SO sorry for the very late update. Sue me. Please don't. I was busy, and so was my beta. NaNoWriMo ate our souls and sold it to Tartarus. (The Gaea's husband kind, I mean) _

_But YES WE HAVE OUR SOULS BACK. I won it, guys! I managed to live through that dreaded 50K for thirty days! Just saying. BUT GODS I'M SO HAPPY. _

_But anyways, here's your update, my dear readers. You're all awesome and I want to give a hug to each of you for being so patient. You guys rock! Tell me what you think, m'kay? Don't forget to give a big hug to my awesome betareader, NotYourLeo. :D Seriously, he's awesome. Aweeeseome.  
_

_Coming next chapter: possible table-kicking, some good ol' walk with good ol' friends. May or may not feature stubbed toes. _


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